Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day? Sonnet by Shakespeare

Table of Contents

Introduction
External Form
Internal Form
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

As a form of poetry, the sonnet is characterized by strict rules related to the external structure and the internal alignment of the ideas and themes developed according to structural changes. William Shakespeare was one of the poets who made sonnets popular and widely referred to in literature. The sonnet selected for analysis in this paper is Shakespeares Sonnet #18 under the title Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day. In this sonnet, William Shakespeare intentionally follows a traditional fourteen-line external structure to incorporate traditional themes of love, nature, and time into logical segments reflecting the development of thought and argument.

External Form

The analyzed sonnet is a traditional Shakespearean sonnet consisting of fourteen lines. They are subdivided into three quatrains and a final two-line stanza. The structure is strictly followed; the rhyme is also strict, with separate parallel rhyming within each quatrain and rhyming lines of the last two-line stanza. The iambic rhythm, AB AB, CD CD, EF EF, GG rhyming, and the traditional fourteen-line structure allow for claiming that this piece is a sonnet. It does not deviate from sonnets in any way due to the strict following of the structural, thematic, and content-related rules.

Internal Form

The overall meaning of the analyzed piece is traditional to sonnet tradition. According to conventional thematic frameworks commonly utilized in sonnets, Shakespeare refers to the themes of love, nature, and time. The author uses a traditional metaphorical comparison of his beloved to nature in general and a summers day in particular. The external structure is harmoniously incorporated with the inner themes and ideas. In accord with the tradition, the poet addressed his beloved directly by posing a question at the beginning of the sonnet and providing a short but distinctive answer at the end. Indeed, the opening line shall I compare thee to a summers day starts the first quatrain (Shakespeare par. 1). His contemplation of the characteristics of summer that hath all too short a date is developed on the articulation of the extremes of nature (Shakespeare par. 1). The first two quatrains are devoted to nature and how it fails to provide consistency and balance for adequate comparison to the poets beloved. The third quatrain starts with the word but and marks a shift from question and nature to answer and the beloved.

Before providing the answer, the poet develops his thought in the last quatrain by denying the possibility of comparing his loved one to a summer day because her beauty is compared to eternal summer that shall not fade (Shakespeare par. 1). Finally, the answer to that question is implied in the last two-line stanza stating, so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee (Shakespeare par. 1). In such a manner, Shakespeare concludes with the remarks on the eternity of love without fading or deeming, as nature would do, because his beloved is lovelier than a summers day.

Conclusion

In summation, the analyzed sonnet is an example of a traditional structure in which the poet has addressed traditional themes and ideas. Shakespeare managed to align his message about the impossibility of comparing his beloved to a summers day with the structure of the sonnet, which allowed for developing a compelling logical stream of thought. Shifting from a question to analysis of nature, to focusing on the poets beloved, and then to the answer, the sonnet passes a complete route of love-nature-time theme development, which was enabled by the traditional sonnet form.